Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The babies got baptized Sunday at Palmyra UMC with Reverend Dad doing the baptizing. The day was perfect. It was a little stressful getting everyone up, fed, dressed, and at the church on time, but we did it. Thankfully my parents were with me to help out! Thankfully Lindy puked her bottle up on my mother who was still in her pajamas and not me, since I had my dress on!

The babies were great at church. Will loved the music. Lindy conked out pretty quickly since she hadn't taken a nap before church. Will also fell asleep at one point. Lindy woke up in time for her baptism and made a funny face when Drew actually baptized her. Poor Will was asleep when he got baptized and he didn't much appreciate being woken up to water on his head. He made the most pitiful face! Drew took the babies and walked up the aisle with them and it was so cool. It was nice our church family got to finally lay eyes on these two kids. They were probably beginning to think we had made them up!

We had a great lunch back at our house with the family. All was wonderful, except for the Pyrex dish that disintegrated in the oven with my scalloped potatoes in it. Needless to say we didn't have scalloped potatoes with our dinner.

I want to thank my mother for making their beautiful outfits. She made each of them an outfit that they will be able to keep forever. Each of their outfits had a part of her wedding dress in them. Will's vest and the lace on Lindy's dress are from her wedding dress (which her mother actually made). They were so pretty and the babies looked so sweet in them. Thanks Mom!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Miss Lindy got her new glasses on Monday of this week. It has definitely taken some getting used to. They looked so small in Drew's hand when I first saw them but they look SO big on her face! I had kind of a rough time on Monday adjusting to the thought of her having to have them on all the time. The thought of something else to keep on her face and the reality of her vision loss hit me.

But things have gotten better. The more she wears them the more I get used to them. I think she is starting to look kind of cute in them! I've taken to calling her the nutty professor. They end up in all kinds of crazy places on her face!

She has done remarkably well with them. Anyone with glasses knows that when you lay sideways they kind of shift. Well that happens with her. She is a baby and spends 90% of her time laying around looking to the side. So of course they always get all cockeyed. That is the worst problem so far. When she is sitting in her bouncy seat or high chair, she does pretty well.

We had a fairly easy week with appointments. Lindy had occupational therapy on Monday. She got a good report. We have to work on stretching her cheeks. They are tight! She hates it though. Tuesday morning we had Governor Morehead come out. Lindy had just gotten her glasses on Monday afternoon so we hadn't had much time to tell how she was adjusting to them. Both appointments were at our house so we didn't have to go anywhere.

Will has really taken to rolling over lately. I've found him in his crib after naps on his belly. He has trouble getting back over to his back because of his big old belly. We are doing exercises on the big blue bouncy ball with the babies. It is like baby push-ups for them. They both enjoy it when we bounce them on it.

I squeezed the babies into one bouncy seat for a picture. That won't be happening too much longer. It was a tight squeeze! We go to the pediatrician for their 9 month check-up next week so we'll have new weights then. I'll be anxious to see what they weigh! We have shirts with names on them, just in case we forget which one is which. Thanks Lindsay! Drew's grandmother got to come out for a visit this week. She saw the babies once in the hospital awhile ago. She fell and broke her hip so she hasn't been in commission either. She had fun talking to them.

Thursday was such a nice day and the babies decided they didn't need very long afternoon naps so we loaded them up for a little trip to a local park. It was a nice trip for all. Lindy fell asleep in the back of the stroller and Will loved looking all around. It was great to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Both babies fell asleep while finishing their bottles at 7pm so they must have been worn out! They don't normally go to bed at 7:15pm!

We have a big weekend planned. The babes will be taking their first trip to church. We are finally getting to go see Daddy preach. It will also be a very special Sunday because we are having the babies baptized! And Daddy will be doing the baptism! How cool huh? We will have all the family in this weekend for church and lunch. We will have tons of pictures, look for a post!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

We had a very successful walk for the March of Dimes yesterday! Drew and I raised a total of $4260. Our entire team, the Million Dollar Babies raised $4535. We have been so touched by the generosity of our family and friends. I know the money will help a ton of babies and that feels really good.

I really want to thank our team for walking with us. Lynn from Charlotte, Katie and Micah from Durham, Amy from Raleigh, Anita and Lily from Garner, and Cathy from Wilmington. We had a great time and hope they all did too. Lynn is Drew's Mom and Lindy and Will's Mimo. Cathy is a friend from high school and an old college roommate. Anita is a friend I met in Wilmington during college. Amy and Katie are the wives of Drew's divinity school roommates. Katie and Kris (and Micah) were kind enough to let us stay at their house in Durham when Lindy was at Duke. We are indebted to them forever! Amy and Todd are pregnant with identical twin girls. We are so excited for them. Finally someone else joining the multiples club!

We also want to send a big thank you to First United Methodist in Lincolnton, especially Peggy Sibert. She called us one Sunday evening after seeing our first post about the March for Babies. She wanted to challenge the church to help us raise money. And they stepped up to the challenge. We had a lot of people donate and we had some VERY generous donators. It is nice to know that even though Drew only spent two years there, and I only spent one year there, that they were kind enough to help us. Thanks FUMC Lincolnton!

Million Dollar Babies Team

Anita, Lily in stroller, and Cathy Katie, Micah in stoller, and Amy (our pregnant walkers!!) Lynn, Drew's Mom The walk in progress We met up with our friends Brett, Wendy, Riley, and Berkley. Wendy and I went to high school together. Riley was born 6 weeks early, four years ago.

Will and Lindy out in public! A bit scary for me but I guess we can't stay cooped up forever!

We need to give more thank you's to:Uncle JimMom and DadBill and Dawn (all the way from England!)JoannaPatJoan and CurtisErin and PhilipJamie and ChrisScotty and SusanCarolyn and DexterJodyAunt Margaret and Aunt DorothyMargaret and JonathonSteveMary BethNancy and familyDotPalmyra UMWMike and Janice

Saturday, April 19, 2008

I don't really have much news from last week, as we only had one appointment! Lindy had an audiology appointment on Monday and they made more ear molds. Our third set. They tried a different technique so we hope that will help. She ended up turning the settings down on the hearing aides to help with all the feedback and whistling. It has been much better since then. We feel like she is responding a little more this week, even with the slightly lower settings. She seems to be staring at us more and her eyes sometimes get big when you say something.

Will has had a happy week. He has added carrots and bananas to his diet. Again, no response from him. I'm beginning to wonder if he has taste buds! He only gets upset when you don't shovel it in fast enough. He has started this back pedaling thing with his legs when he's on his back. He can scoot around now by pushing off with his legs.

It has become a constant struggle lately to keep the cannula in Lindy's nose. She fights it all day long. Friday we started taking notice of her oxygen saturations when it was out of her nose. They were almost always over 95. So we just left it out of her nose and she kept staying up. We put it in for feeds and naps but otherwise let her off of it and just watched her closely. She did awesome. We did it some more today and she did well again. We feel like she is going to kick this oxygen addiction soon. We can't wait!

Enjoy some recent pictures from this past week.

Camo pants from Grandbob and Suzette. Lindy's lovely left hand. Mommy was playing. Can't wait till I can do stuff with her hair. (Carrie, did you notice it's a ladybug. I didn't realize what I'd grabbed. I hate ladybugs!!) I realized that I didn't have very many pictures lately of the babies together. I got on the stick pretty quickly and remedied that. No Cannula! Don't tell!

A little comparison picture collage for you. Check out the difference in size. The first one of Will was taken right around when he came home, early November. The one of Lindy is from the end of December when she came home. Compare that to pictures taken last week! Just a little bigger!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Friday, April 11, 2008

We have one week left before our March of Dimes walk. We've had amazing support from family and friends. We never dreamed we would almost quadruple our orignal goal! If you were thinking about making a donation then you have one week to do it!

The March of Dimes has touched your life if:-Your baby received a vaccine to prevent polio-Your baby received critical newborn screening to check for potentially dangerous but treatable conditions-You took folic acid before and during early pregnancy to prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord- You had a premature baby who spent time in the NICU or was treated with surfactant therapy, a lifesaving treatment developed by the March of Dimes research grants-You had a healthy baby due in part to good prenatal care at home and from your doctor

The March of Dimes not only helps the preemies out there but helps all babies. Please consider donating so that ALL babies are born healthy and no one has to experience prematurity and infant death.

We are walking for Lindy and Will. Look how far they've come. Will on the left, Lindy on the right. We are also walking for Adam, Baby C, who we miss every minute of every day.P.S. There's another new post below this one -- keep reading!

Another week has gone by? Man time goes fast! Our week was pretty busy, although not as bad as last week.

The babies started off the week with a physical therapy appointment on Monday. Both babies did good. Each had their strengths and weaknesses. We love visiting Miss Heather, she oohs and aahs over the babies! She was very impressed with Lindy. She gave us some things to work on with both babies and we'll see her again in 3 months.

Monday was also an exciting day for Will, he tried his first vegetable. We started with sweet potatoes. I was so excited for a funny face or something to happen and guess what, nothing happened. He ate it like he had eaten it a million times. He acted like there was no difference between the rice cereal and sweet potatoes. How unexciting! He ate them great all week and last night we tried green beans. Again, nothing. No reaction at all. Acts like he's been eating them for years! I guess I'm actually pretty happy but I thought I could get some good pictures at least!

Wednesday we went to the audiologist and got Lindy's new ear molds. Unfortunately they aren't much better and we will be going Monday to get new ones made! These little hearing aides are a pain in the butt. This time the left one is okay and the right one whistles badly. Maybe one day we'll get them right!

Thursday was a good day for Miss Lindy. She had a follow-up echocardiogram done on her heart and this one came back good! It looks like the pressure that was there in February is gone and everything looks normal! I was so excited. Of course I had visions of it having gotten worse. We also had an appointment at the NICU follow-up clinic. At the echo they said she weighed 12 pounds 8 ounces! At the NICU follow-up clinic they said she weighed 12 pounds 5 ounces! The baby girl has had excellent growth! She is actually making it on the charts for her adjusted age now. Albeit very low percentage (like 10%), but hey, she's made it! In the weight to length measurement she is actually above average. Her little belly is getting big for her little body! Because the echo came back good we were able to talk about weaning her oxygen!!! Yeah!!! We stopped her diuretics that she has been on yesterday and we are going to wait two weeks to make sure she does okay off of them. If she does then we will start weaning. I'm dreaming of the day that she is not tethered down! What a glorious day that will be!

The babes are doing well. Will seems to be doing a little better in the wheezing department. I think the Prevacid we started him on is helping. He finally rolled all the way over from back to belly. He has been so incredibly close for so long now, he just couldn't get over his left arm. He finally made it yesterday. Of course I was gone and Daddy got to see it! Lindy is becoming much more vocal. She has started making some of the cutest noises ever! When she is happy she has started making this "Weee" sound that is so funny. We think she is getting louder as well, which could mean her left vocal cord might be doing something (remember it is paralyzed from her PDA surgery).

That's the news from here. Everyone have a wonderful weekend. Our beautiful 77º weather is going to turn colder and rainy. Yuck!

Lou Lou started off on the play mat. She gets away quick now!

Willy-Will was ready to watch the Final Four last weekend. He was actually ready to play but we told him he needs to grow a few more inches! Are these not the cutest things in the world. We love when packages with cute baby things arrive in the mail. Thanks Nana and Papa!

Lindy was exhausted after eating her rice cereal last night. Maybe she should have taken an afternoon nap! While Will was watching basketball, Lindy was trying on swimsuits. She just can't wait for summertime and trips to Mimo's beach house!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Whew - this has been one heck of a week. We have had an appointment every day. Only one was here at the house. We were on the go every other day. I'm pooped from this week. I'm sure Lindy Lou-Who is too since they were all her appointments!

You know we got her hearing aides on Monday. They have been fun, NOT! They whistle pretty badly. Remember that the audiologist made new ear molds that we are getting next week which will hopefully eliminate this problem. We've had her wearing them here at home but haven't ventured out in public with them. The right one seems to stay in pretty well and we can sometimes get it not to whistle. She doesn't seem to mess with it. The left one isn't so great. It won't stay in her ear. When it is in her ear it is whistling loudly. She also messes with this one quite a bit. Good times, good times. We are just practicing this week, trying to get the hang of putting them in. We have not seen much of a response from her with them on. Hopefully in time.

We took Will to the appointment with us. Here is a picture of them as we were getting ready to go. Apparently they were bored! Will felt the need to have poop come out of his diaper while we were in the audiologist's office. Nice job Will. And I thought we had taught him better.

Tuesday we had the lady from Governor Morehead come play with Lindy. She brought some new toys for her to play with. Who ever thought of babies playing with Slinky's? Both the babies love them!

Wednesday was a big adventure that required Daddy to come with us. Both babies had swallow studies. They put a little bit of barium in different consistencies of milk and see if they aspirate. Lindy has been on honey consistency milk and she was not aspirating on that. We then tried nectar consistency and she wasn't aspirating on that either. We then tried plain breast milk and she immediately aspirated that. But she made a huge step in moving down to the nectar consistency so we are very excited and proud of her. Will has been on nectar consistency and will stay on that. We tried him with plain breast milk as well but he aspirated it too. Not as badly as Lindy but enough that it wouldn't be good for him. We don't go back for 5-6 months. So that is 5-6 more months of thickening milk. ugggg.

While at the swallow study we also gave both babies some cereal to see if they aspirated it. Neither of them did. Even Lindy did well with it. That gave us the thumbs up to try cereal. Thursday she got her last Synagis shot (for RSV) at the pediatrician's office. We talked about starting Lindy and she felt it was fine too. So Lindy got her first cereal on Thursday evening! She wasn't sure what to think about it. We just gave her a little to let her taste it and play with it in her mouth. Friday night I gave her more and she ate a whole ounce and did really well.

Friday was a long morning for Lindy at a nephrology appointment. Lindy had a urinary tract infection in the NICU and they discovered she had some kidney reflux. This means that some of her urine goes in the wrong direction. We had a follow-up appointment which included a renal ultrasound and having blood drawn. The ultrasound tech said her kidneys looked good. One is smaller than the other but it always has been. Poor Lindy did not like getting blood drawn. Luckily the lab lady was good and got it on the first try. We were tired by the time we finally got home.

Will has had a good week. His latest news is that we started him on reflux medicine to see if it helps with the wheezing and spitting up. We just started yesterday so it'll take a little while to see if it helps. It would be nice if that would solve the problem. One night this week we put Will to bed in his crib, just like we normally do. By morning he had twisted 180º and was facing the opposite direction! It was funny to walk in and find him in the wrong direction! He is a silly monkey!I had a first last night. I spent the night with the babies by myself!! Drew was with the youth group at a lock-in. A church friend who took her daughter to the lock-in called and offered to come help me out so that was great. Will was excited too because he got to eat earlier than he would have if it had been just me!

Lindy has been doing so well on tummy time this week. Normally she likes to just lay and suck on her hands. She doesn't look up much. Just the past few days she has been holding her head up high. She has good head control when sitting on our laps or on our shoulder, she just wouldn't do it at tummy time. We are so proud of her!

Will has great head/neck strength but it doesn't look like it in that picture. Here is proof!. And just a few more shots. More matching outfits, courtesy of the Allens. These pants are so soft.And finally, our new motto. "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

The babies were practicing for the summer when they'll need hats and sunglasses!